About

Christopher M. Barnes is a Professor of Management and the Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business. He earned his PhD from Michigan State University in 2009, an MPH from the University of Washington in 2024, an M.Sc. from the University of Oxford in 2022, an MBA from Webster University in 2003, and a BS from Pacific Lutheran University in 1999. His research focuses on emotions, ethics, human sustainability, leadership, organizational behavior, sleep, and teamwork. Barnes has held positions at the University of Washington since 2013, and prior to that, he was an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech and the United States Military Academy at West Point. His work explores the intersection of sleep, fatigue, and workplace performance, as well as leadership and ethical behavior, contributing significantly to understanding how sleep deprivation impacts social and organizational outcomes. He has received numerous awards and honors for his scholarly contributions, including being named a Fellow of the Society for Organizational Behavior and receiving the Responsible Research in Management Award.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Political Science
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Development economics
• Law
• Biology
• Social psychology
• Economics
• Cognitive psychology
• Virology
• Psychiatry
• Economic growth
• Clinical psychology
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• The effects of mixed-mode ventilation on energy saving and employee job satisfaction, work engagement, and job performance

  Scientific Reports · 2026-02-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Given the rise in extreme temperatures worldwide due to climate change, this paper explores whether installing a mixed-mode ventilation (MMV) system in buildings can reduce energy consumption without compromising employees' job satisfaction, work engagement, and job performance. The MMV system combines natural ventilation with air-conditioning, switching between them as needed and operating at a higher temperature to achieve energy savings while still providing thermal comfort. A 19-week experience sampling study (Study 1) was conducted to examine the long-term effects of working under the MMV system. A field experiment (Study 2) was then conducted to document causal effects. The results show that the MMV system leads to significant energy savings compared to traditional air-conditioners (AC) and, furthermore, provide initial evidence that employees' job satisfaction, work engagement, and job performance do not differ statistically between those working under the MMV system and those working under traditional AC.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The effects of food insecurity on work outcomes.

  Journal of Applied Psychology · 2026-02-19

  articleSenior author

  Food insecurity-insufficient access to safe and nutritious foods-is one of the most crucial societal grand challenges the world faces today. It affects 2.3 billion people globally, and addressing it is one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations et al., 2025). Despite its prevalence and importance, the field of applied psychology has ignored this problem with the implicit assumption that food insecurity is not an issue relevant to the workplace. Contrary to this view, we hypothesize and demonstrate that food insecurity is detrimental to the three core work outcomes: task performance, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. To test our hypotheses, we employed a multimethod design across three empirical studies: (a) an experimental recall study, (b) a within-person diary study, and (c) a field experiment. Our findings consistently demonstrate that food insecurity leads to higher anxiety, which subsequently has a negative effect on task performance, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behavior. In our field experiment, we further demonstrated that providing food to those experiencing food insecurity can improve work outcomes. This research highlights that food insecurity is a significant issue with important implications for the workplace that requires greater attention from both researchers and business leaders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Design and evaluation of four low-cost engineering controls for reducing particle emissions from 3D printing

  Atmospheric Environment X · 2026-03-07

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Multiple studies indicate that workers are being exposed to emissions from material extrusion three-dimensional (3D) printing processes and suffering adverse health effects from the exposures. To mitigate these exposures, we developed and evaluated four low-cost engineering controls to capture particle emissions during 3D printing processes. Two controls (Controls A and B) were custom developed using 3D printed parts and retrofitted onto the extruder of two open-frame desktop fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers (Printers 1 and 2) to capture emissions near the source. A third control (Control C) used a commercially available, printer-specific enclosure that partially encapsulated Printer 2, while a fourth control (Control D) was built using acrylic panels to fully enclose Printer 2. Particle emissions from each control were exhausted through NIOSH-designed air filtration units consisting of a high-efficiency filter, blower fan, and 3D printed housing/components. Control effectiveness was evaluated in an emissions test chamber by comparing average particle concentrations at the chamber outlet while 3D-printing a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test artifact with black acrylonitrile butadiene styrene filament, with and without the controls in operation. Minimum capture efficiencies were 99.7% for Control A, 91.6% for Control B, 28.6% for Control C, and 99.8% for Control D. Internal cooling fans in Printer 2 allowed particle emissions to bypass Control C, limiting its effectiveness. Overall, capturing emissions at the source (Controls A and B) and full enclosure (Control D) were highly effective and demonstrated that low-cost engineering controls can mitigate particle emissions from 3D printing processes. • Low-cost controls can reduce emissions from desktop 3D printers • Custom 3D-printed nozzles reduced particle emissions by over 90% • Enclosing printers with HEPA filtration reduced emissions by 99.8% • Poorly designed enclosures allowed particles to bypass the filter • Emission capture at the source is critical for effective control

  PublisherDOI

• Addressing insomnia symptoms through food aid to those with food insecurity

  Sleep Health · 2026-01-06

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Recycling Plastic Bags into Filament: Consideration of Emissions during Melting, Extrusion, and 3-D Printing

  ACS Chemical Health & Safety · 2025-10-01

  article

  Billions of plastic bags (PBs) are consumed per day and are discarded after use. One way to reduce PB waste is distributed recycling and conversion into filament for 3-D printing as part of a circular economy, though little is understood about emissions during these processes. Herein, a “green” method was used to mix high-density polyethylene (HDPE) PBs from South Africa or the United States with virgin HDPE and extrude into filaments that were used to 3-D print tensile test specimens. Particle- and gas-phase emissions were measured throughout processing. On a particle number basis, during filament production, emissions mostly had sizes 1.2–5.2 nm, whereas during 3-D printing, emissions were mostly 5.6–560 nm. Particle yields (no./g plastic processed) were significantly (2–3 orders of magnitude) higher during 3-D printing compared with filament making. Acetone (range: 1.4–39.4 μg/g printed) and formaldehyde (range: 9.9–16.1 μg/g printed), the latter a potential occupational carcinogen, were released during 3-D printing. The Young’s modulus of test specimens was comparable to literature values for 3-D-printed virgin and recycled HDPE. Recycling waste PBs into filament for 3-D printing has myriad sustainability benefits, though the potential for human exposures to particles and gases is an important consideration for future life cycle analyses.

  PublisherDOI

• Are night owls more robust to commuting? The role of chronotypes in commuting

  Human Relations · 2025-04-03

  articleCorresponding

  Many employees spend a significant portion of their workday commuting to and from work, albeit with considerable day-to-day variability in those commutes. Based on the time-scarcity perspective, scholars have reached a consensus that time spent commuting is generally draining for employees. This raises an important question: Do all employees have negative reactions to longer commuting times? Challenging this view, we use a temporally based chronotype fit perspective to argue that time spent commuting is less fatiguing for some people compared to others. We propose that at the within-person level, morning (evening) commuting time negatively relates to work (family) role performance via fatigue at work (home). The chronotype moderates the within-individual effects of time spent commuting on fatigue and performance at work and home. The harmful effects of time spent commuting on fatigue and performance are attenuated for persons with a biological preference for evening activity. These effects stand in contrast to previous research that predicted workplace advantages for those individuals with a biological preference for morning activity. We also propose the spillover effects of fatigue at work on fatigue at home and of work role performance on family role performance. Two experience sampling method surveys largely support our hypotheses.

  PublisherDOI

• The rise of COVID-19 cases is associated with support for world leaders

  UNC Libraries · 2025-07-01

  articleOpen access

  COVID-19 has emerged as one of the deadliest and most disruptive events in recent human history. Drawing from political science and psychological theories, we examine the effects of daily confirmed cases in a country on citizens' support for the political leader through the first 120 d of 2020. Using three unique datasets which comprise daily approval ratings of head of government (<em>n</em> = 1,411,200) across 11 world leaders (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and weekly approval ratings of governors across the 50 states in the United States (<em>n</em> = 912,048), we find a strong and significant positive association between new daily confirmed and total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country and support for the heads of government. These analyses show that political leaders received a boost in approval in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, these findings suggest that the previously documented "rally 'round the flag" effect applies beyond just intergroup conflict.

  PublisherDOI

• Leader’s spouse sleep apnea impairs team creativity: the moderating role of sleep divorce

  Journal of Business Research · 2025-10-04

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Applying Design Thinking to identify strategies for enacting evidence-based policymaking supporting Standard Time

  SLEEP · 2025-07-13 · 2 citations

  article

  STUDY OBJECTIVES: The transition from Standard Time (ST) to Daylight Saving Time (DST) is associated with health, safety, economic, and other risks, and there is broad public support to "do away" with the change. However, most legislators have proposed permanent DST (pDST), contrary to medical and scientific recommendations. There is an urgent need to garner public support for legislation that would enact permanent Standard Time (pST), not pDST. METHODS: We employed a method called Design Thinking to uncover opportunities to design public communication strategies that garner public opinion supporting pST. As a first step, we recruited a multidisciplinary group (n = 19) of individuals with diverse expertise (e.g., sleep/circadian rhythms, design, policy/legislation). Attendees gave talks on their area of expertise then broke into groups to discuss why pDST is viewed positively by the public and data informing the medical and scientific endorsement for pST over pDST. During each activity, participant wrote down their reactions on sticky notes. Sticky notes were analyzed qualitatively to identify the primary themes. Finally, participants were instructed to create news headlines declaring a hypothetical future event in which pST was enacted. RESULTS: The reaction exercise generated 72 sticky notes. Themes regarding why pDST is viewed favorably included perception of longer days, social connections, freedom, and summer. Themes relating to the reasons pST should be preferred included better health and sleep, improved alertness, and learning/productivity. Participants identified potential 11 headlines, many of which emphasized health or cost savings associated with pST. CONCLUSIONS: Design Thinking is an under-explored but effective tool for uncovering potential barriers and brainstorming approaches for engendering support of evidence-based pST legislation. Statement of Significance The transition from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time is associated with health, safety, economic, and other concerns. There is broad public support to "do away" with the clock change, but legislative efforts have proposed permanent Daylight Savings Time, which is contrary to medical and scientific society recommendations. There is an urgent need to garner public support for evidence-based clock time legislation, which would be for permanent Standard Time. We employed Design Thinking methodology with a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders, including sleep/circadian rhythms researchers, design experts, and policymakers. The results of the Design Thinking activities illuminated themes relating to the barriers to evidence-based clock time legislation, and opportunities for designing evidence-based slogans and messages.

  PublisherDOI

• The Implications of Work–Family Interpersonal Capitalization on Employee Coworker-Directed Behaviors

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2024-07-09

  articleSenior author

  Employees frequently engage in work–family interpersonal capitalization by sharing their positive work experiences with relationship partners. While extant theory on capitalization highlights the benefits for those directly sharing these experiences (i.e., capitalizers), capitalization may influence third-parties—a notion that challenges the existing purview that the processes and benefits of capitalization are constrained to the dyadic relationship. In this work, we integrate theory on capitalization with work–family enrichment theory to develop a model to suggest that a relationship partner’s work–family interpersonal capitalization can not only enrich a focal employee’s work and family experiences but that this enrichment spurs next-day behaviors directed toward third-party coworkers. We employed a laboratory experiment and a three-week experience sampling field experiment with daily interventions involving 125 employee–partner dyads. Both experiments revealed consistent results showing that work¬–family interpersonal capitalization prompts positive reflection in the focal employee, leading to workplace interpersonal capitalization, task-related helping, and personal helping behaviors toward coworkers the following day at work. We discuss theoretical implications regarding capitalization as well as practical implications for employees and their organizations.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• David T. Wagner

  University of Oregon

  27 shared

• Cristiano L. Guarana

  14 shared

• Keith Leavitt

  Oregon State University

  14 shared

• Brent A. Scott

  Michigan State University

  8 shared

• John R. Hollenbeck

  8 shared

• Kai Chi Yam

  National University of Singapore

  8 shared

• Russell E. Johnson

  Michigan State University

  6 shared

• Klodiana Lanaj

  6 shared

Labs

• Foster School of BusinessPI

Education

• PhD, Management Department

  Michigan State University

  2009

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the Society for Organizational Behavior (2023)
• Best Reviewer Award (6 awarded among board members), Organiz…
• Faculty of the quarter (for teaching), MS Entrepreneurship p…
• Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award (mid-career research aw…
• Professor of the Week, awarded by Poets & Quants (2019)